Purdue wide receiver B.J. Knauf runs back a pass during a spring practice on Thursday, March 21, 2013, in Mollenkopf Athletic Center in West Lafayette.

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B.J. Knauf attempted to inject some humor when discussing a back problem that sidelined him all of last season.

"It was like a bad ex-girlfriend, honestly," the redshirt freshman receiver on Purdue's football team joked.

The nagging injury - a stress fracture to his L5 vertebrae - killed any chance the Florida native had at contributing last season. He initially suffered the injury running track during his senior year at Sante Fe Catholic in Winter Haven, Fla. ...